Apparatus for reducing seed-hulls.



(Application filed Apr; 93, 1901.)

3 Sheets-Sheet L (No Model.)

Patented Oct. 7, I902.

F. B. POPE.

APPARATUS FOR REDUCING SEED HULLS.

(Application filed Apr. 23, 1901.)

3 Sheets-Shed 2.

No. 7l0,887. Patented Oct. 7, I902 F. B. POPE. APPARATUS FOR REDUCINGSEED HULLS.

(Application filed Apr. 23, 1901.)

(No Model.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 3,

UNrrnD STATES ATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK I3. POPE, OF AUGUSTA, GEORGIA.

APPARATUS FOR REDUCING SEED-H ULLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters IPatent No. 710,887, dated October7, 1902.

Application filed April 23,1901.

To (ti/Z whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FREDERICK B. Porn, a citizen of the United States,residing at Augusta, in the county of Richmond and State of Georgia,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus forReducing Seed-Hulls, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has for its object to reduce to a meal the hull portions ofseeds and in the case of cotton or other like seeds to separatetherefrom the fibrous portions; and to this end my invention consists ofan apparatus whereby the material is operated upon and the reducedportion in the form of a meal separated and the other portions subjectedto repeated action until all parts of the hull are reduced to a meal andthe fibers are removed, as fully set forth hereinafter and asillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is anelevationof an apparatus illustrating one arrangement embodying myimprovement; Fig. 2, an enlarged cross-sectional elevation on the line 22, Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a longitudinal section of one form of separator whichmay be employed; Fig. 4, a section on the line 4 at, Fig. 3; Fig. 5, asection of the receiver provided with a screen-top. Fig. 6 is anelevation, on enlarged scale and partly in section and partly brokenaway, of a portion of the apparatus.

In the improved apparatus I make use of a plurality of disintegrating orgrinding apparatus which may be of any suitable character, but which arepreferably in the form of attrition-mills a a a &c., which may be of anydesired number, five being shown. These apparatus, hereinafter termecmills, may be arranged one above the other or in any suitable relation,but in my improved apparatus are most advantageously employed whenarranged side by side, as shown. With the first mill of the series iscombined a chute or other delivering apparatus 1, by means of whichthere is delivered to the hopper 2 of this mill the material to begroundthat is, the hulls of cotton-seed separated from the kernels, buthaving connected therewith the fibers, which it is one of the purposesof the apparatus to separate. Past all of the mills extend what I term areceiver 5, the same Serial No. 57,134. (No model.)

being a long tube or trough provided opposite each mill with a hopper 3,to which the material discharged from the mill is conducted by a chute 4or otherwise. The receiver Z) therefore receives all of the materialdischarged from all of the mills, and the said material is agitated veryrapidly in the receiver by means of any suitable beater or agitator as,for instance, by radial blades 5 on a shaft 6, extending longitudinallythrough the receiver and provided with a pulley 7 at the outer end toreceive the belt by which the shaft is driven. The blades 5 are set atan angle, so as not only to agitate the material, but also carry itlongitudinally along the receiver. At different points along the receiver b the latter is perforated or provided with openings, acrosswhich screens or sieves are extended, preferably one opposite each mill,and these screens 8 are of such a character as to permit the passagethrough them of the finely-ground hull-meal only, preventing the passageof larger shells or fibers, so that the material which passes throughthe screens 8 consists only of the finished ground hull product. Thefinished product passing from all of the screens 8 may be conducted to abin or receptacle 0 in any suitable manner; but preferably I make use ofa conduit 01 in the form of a trough or tube extending past all of thescreens 8, from which the material is conducted to the conduit by chutes9, and the meal is fed along the conduit by means of a rotary eonveyer10, the shaft of which carries a drive-pulley 12. After separating thefinished meal product that passes through any part of the receiver b theremaining mixture of hulls and fiber has a certain proportion of loosehulls and loose fiber and a certain proportion of hulls and adheringfiber, and it is necessary to further grind the hulls and to separatethe hulls and fiber when together. The whole mass might be conducted insuccession through the different mills and ground together after eachsifting out of the meal; but this would necessitate the'employment of aseries of very heavy mills, and I avoid this necessity by separatingfrom the mass the hulls which are disassociated from the fiber andconducting these hulls to lighter or smaller mills which will operateupon them effectively, while the combined hulls and ICO fiber arecarried to larger mills, as required for operating on this material.Different arrangements of screens and conveyers may be employed inconnection with the mills to secure this result; but, as shown, I makeuse of a second conduit f and of a second series of screens 13 in thereceiver 1), which screens are of a character to permit the passage ofthe broken hulls only, chutes 1t conducting these hulls to the conduitf, from which suitable conveyers carry the hulls to the mills that areto operate upon the same. Any suitable conveyers 9 may be employed; butin the construction shown there are grain-elevators thereceiving-troughs 16 of which eX- tend below the delivery-chutes 17 ofthe conduitf, while the delivery-chutes 18 are arranged to conduct thematerial to the hopper of the mill which is to operate upon the same.Preferably the chutes 18 may be adjusted to different positions, so thatthe material may be delivered to the mill following that which firstoperated upon the same or may be swung over to carry it back to thefirst mill for repeated operation.

A screen 13 is arranged in the receiver bin a position in advance ofeach conductor that is to deliver the hulls to one of the mills; butwhere the entire material is to pass through the mill the receiver isprovided with an opening communicating with a chute 20, which conductssaid material to the conduit f, from which the mass of hulls and fiberpasses through the adjacent conductor to the mill which is to operateupon the same.

A sufficient number of mills is employed, or the material is passed sorepeatedly through a smaller number of mills that after the finaloperation the greater proportion of the hulls will have been reduced toa meal and separated and discharged into the bin 0, leaving only thefiber with a certain amount of adhering hull particles. This fiber isconducted to the terminal elevator g, which raises it to a separator ofsuitable character, where it is so operated upon that the remainingparti cles of hull or the greater proportion thereof will be detached,and these particles are conducted by a chute 21 back to one of theelevators, by means of which they are delivered to one of the mills forregrinding the mixture with the other material.

Any suitable form of separator may be employed, that shown consisting ofa perforated cylinder 22,the lower part of which is inclosed by a casing23, communicating with the chute 21, the casing having hollow trunnionsthrough which passes a shaft carrying beating-blades 24, one of saidhollow trunnions carrying a pulley 25 adjacent to a pulley 26, carriedby the shaft, so that by means of suitable belts the cylinder may beturned in one direction and the beater-shaft in an opposite direction. a

The cylinder has a neck at each end, one neck communicating with thereceiving-hopper 28 and the other with a discharge-chute 29.

From the lower end of the hopper 28 a pipe 28* leads to a blast-fan 30,which latter forces a current of air through the pipe 28, which drivesthe fiber and adhering hull fragments through the neck into theseparator, where it will be violently beaten by the blades 24 with theresult that the fragments of hull will be separated from the fiber. Thefiber being lighter than the hull will be blown through the other neckto the dischargechute 29, while the particles of heavier meal descendand pass through the perforations of the casing to the chute 21. Inorder to maintain the perforations of the cylinder open, I make use of abrush 31 upon a shaft parallel to the casing and rotating in contacttherewith.

In addition to the screens before specified the receiver Z) may have ascreen-top, preferably curved and hinged, so as to be swung to one side,as shown in Fig. 5. The material in the receiver will be thrown out bythe action of the heaters and the finer fibers will adhere to this upperscreen, from which it may be brushed by hand or otherwise, thus reducingthe work in the separators as well as securing in a separate conditionthe finer fibers for paper-stock, the coarser fibers which are conductedto the screen constituting a second grade.

I have not shown in the drawings the details of the attrition-mills orthe supports therefor,nor other details of construction having nonecessary relation to my invention, as these features may be of anysuitable character and will be evident to any one skilled in the art.

Vithout limiting myself to the precise construction and arrangement ofparts shown, I claim as my invention- 1. In an apparatus for reducingthe hulls of cotton-seed and separating the fiber therefrom, thecombination of a series of mills, a receiver common to all the mills, aseries of separated fine-mesh sieves in the bottom of the receiver, aseries of separated coarsermesh sieves also in the bottom of thereceiver and alternating with the fine-mesh sieves, a rotary beater foragitating the material delivered from the mills to the receiver and formoving it over the sieves whereby the hullmeal is sifted through thefine-meshed sieves and free coarser fragments of hull are sifted throughthe coarser-mesh sieves, means for conveying the free fragments of hullsback to one of the mills, and means for conveying the fiber and adheringbull to a separating device, substantially as set forth.

2. In an apparatus for reducing the hulls of cotton-seed and separatingthe fiber therefrom, the combination with a series of mills for reducingthe hulls, of a receiver common to all the mills and having a movableperforated top, sieves in the bottom of the receiver, and beater-bladescarried by a rotary shaft within the receiver for agitating the materialdelivered from the mills to the receiver and moving it through thereceiver-,wherebyhnllmeal and free fragments of hull are sifted throughthe sieves and the free fiber is collected by the perforated top,substantially as set forth.

3. In an apparatus for reducing the hulls of cotton-seed and separatingthe fiber therefrom, the combination with a series of mills, a receiverto which the ground product from the mills is delivered, means forcollecting the free fiber from the ground product within the receiver,means for separating the hullmeal from the ground product within thereceiver, and a receptacle for fiber and adhering hull tailed off fromthe receiver, of aseparator to which such tailings are conveyed, saidseparator comprising a rotary screen, a rotary beater within the screen,means to create a current through the screen to carry out the fiber, anda receptacle for the hull fragments which pass through the meshes of thescreen, substantially as set forth.

4. In an apparatus for reducing the hulls of cotton-seed and separatingthe fiber therefrom, the combination with a series of mills, a receiverto which the ground product from the mills is delivered, means forseparating and collecting the free fiber from the ground product withinthe receiver, means for separating the hull-meal from the ground prodnotwithin the receiver, and a receptacle for fiber and hull fragmentsadhering thereto tailed off from the receiver, of a separator to whichsuch tailing's are conveyed, said separator comprising a rotary screen,a rotary beater within the screen, means to create a current through thescreen to carry out the fiber, a rotary brush engaging the exterior ofthe screen, and a receptacle for the hull fragments which pass throughthe meshes of the screen, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

FREDERICK B. POPE. lVitnesses:

H. M. GILLMAN, Jr., J. J. MCCARTHY.

